Article excerpt

WHEN Secretary of State James A. Baker III visits Beijing
tomorrow he will be the highest-level American official to do so
since the government's June 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrators. China's geron- tocracy hopes the visit will mark a
return to business as usual: trade ties mended, diplomatic
relations restored, human rights trangressions conveniently ignored.

This is the interpretation that will be presented in the
official media to hundreds of millions of Chinese who have access
to no other news. For this very reason, Secretary Baker must do
everything possible to correct the impression that all is forgiven.

Since June 1989, there has been a systematic and chilling
suppression of all forms of dissent in China. Dozens of
publications have been closed by the government, including ones
that called for bold economic reforms in the late 1980s. According
to research conducted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, more
than 20 journalists have been arrested; while a few have been
released, others remain imprisoned without charge. Many more
journalists have been suspended from work and are under official
investigation. They have no means of support and can't seek other
jobs. At People's Daily, the party's flagship paper with a
circulation of 5 million, at least 50 editors and reporters have
been fired, demoted, or ordered to distant provinces. The new
editor-in-chief, Shao Huaze, gained his journalism experience as
head of a People's Liberation Army propaganda unit.

Hundreds of pro-democracy activists have been jailed for crimes
that range from shouting slogans to painting banners. Two of the
most famous political prisoners, Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming, are
serving 13-year sentences. Wang, editor of the now-banned Economic
Studies Weekly, and Chen, its publisher, had organized a march in
Beijing by journalists calling for a relaxation of rules that
curtailed press coverage of student demonstrations. During their
trial, which human rights critics decried as a mockery of justice,
the two were vilified as the "black hands" behind the 1989
demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.

China's government exerts stringent ideological control over
those journalists they do not jail or fire. In a manner eerily
reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, journalists are forced to
write self-criticisms. This year, in fact, the All-China
Journalists Association reaffirmed the need for a press that upheld
Marxist-Leninist thought. …